Fixed Ops Journal - June 2019 - F11

USING YOUR HEAD

Hard hats and safety glasses help curb lift injuries

injuries occur from using vehicle lifts, and
he auto repair industry's reliance
the institute does not keep such statistics.
on vehicle lifts places a unique
OSHA says service technicians suffered
burden on dealership shop manag1,950 head injuries from all causes in 2017,
ers to provide regular safety training
the last year for which figures are available.
for service techs, especially in head
Charlie Ayers, president of the Coordinatprotection, says the president of the
ing Committee for Automotive Repair,
Automotive Lift Institute.
agrees that dealerships could re"Our industry asks folks to
duce head injuries by requiring or
do something no other inrecommending that techs wear
dustry does - to put themhard hats. But he doubts they would
selves physically under tens of thouwin widespread acceptance besands of pounds of metal every day,"
cause "they're uncomfortable, hot
says the institute's Bob O'Gorman.
and they can get in the way."
The organization recommends
About half of the head injuries rethat lifts be inspected at least annuported to OSHA in 2017 affected
ally by an institute-certified inspeceyes. That statistic, Ayers says, inditor, and more often if they get heavy Ayers: Glasses
cates that techs also aren't wearing
use. In its training, the institute also use cuts costs.
safety glasses, which he believes
urges techs to wear hard hats or
should be required as well.
"bump caps" when they work under lifts.
Ayers, a former corporate safety trainer, says
O'Gorman concedes such protection isn't
he has seen shop employees working underwidely used.
neath cars or trucks on lifts frequently get hit
"It depends on the type of work you're doby parts and debris falling from the vehicles.
ing," he says. "You see people [protecting
After he mandated use of safety glasses, he
their heads] when they're doing hot work -
says, "the rate of injuries went down and as a
welding or grinding or something like that."
result our insurance costs went down."
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration doesn't break out how many
- Rick Popely

Under the gun
The jump in shop injuries may be caused in
part by constant pressure on service departments to crank out more repair jobs to increase revenue, says Bob O'Gorman, president of the Automotive Lift Institute. The institute certifies the manufacturing, installation,
inspection and maintenance of hydraulic lifts
and provides online training for service techs.
"In today's service and repair environment,
a lot of emphasis is put on moving from one
job to the next, and it has a lot to do with time,"

"Look what an injury does
to the tech's life. He's still
got bills to pay and he's not
earning money. It's not good
for the company, and it's not
good for the employee or his
family, either."

Dealership executives who regard safety
training merely as an expense, for the purchase of training materials or on-site instruction and the time it takes employees away
from producing revenue, are shortsighted,
Ayers told Fixed Ops Journal.
"If a person doesn't get hurt and stays productive, I'm getting back the money I spent on training," Ayers says. "You're lessening the chances for
an incident, the severity of an incident and the
chances of OSHA being in your shop. Everyone
says there is a big shortage of techs, so we need to
take care of the ones we have."

DAVID STERK, assistant CFO,
Ciocca Dealerships

O'Gorman says. "If there's not continual training, you're going to focus on time issues and
make mistakes."
Ayers says the flat-rate system, which benefits technicians who complete jobs faster than
standard book times, likely contributes to increased injuries as well. An even greater factor,
he says, is the aging work force among techs.
"The chances of them getting hurt is greater
now because they're older," he says. "Their
bodies aren't as strong as they used to be. Take

a guy who's 49 and been doing this job for 29
years. Are you going to teach this person
something new [about safety]? In his mind,
probably not. If he's never been seriously hurt,
it's hard to get him to wear
safety gear."
Ayers says he thinks most
shops, including those at
dealerships, would flunk a
spot inspection by OSHA.
"They don't know they're
out of compliance because
they haven't had an incident. Typically, this subject Parnell: Techs
doesn't come up on their receive training.
radar screens until there is
an incident, and then it's too late."

Preventive medicine
About 15 years ago, Westside Lexus in Houston discovered it was violating a federal mandate covering fuel storage, mainly because it
misunderstood an OSHA regulation, says
Robert Parnell, the dealership's service and
see SAFETY, Page 12

JUNE 2019

PAGE 11

Fixed Ops Journal - June 2019

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